Saving Books

Over the span of twenty-four years in the ministry of the United Methodist Church, I've moved six times. Many fine church members have toted boxes and other paraphernalia in and out of parsonages for us.

What they remember most is carrying boxes of books. More than anything else, we have books. We don't throw away books, and we rarely give them away or sell them.

If you were to look through the books my wife and I have, you would learn lots about us, even just looking at the titles. For instance, Joy has math books, organic food books, homeschooling books, etc I've got a juggling book or two, Bible commentaries, books about baseball, etc. We have hundreds of Christian novels.

Why do we keep them? Are we going to read them all again? That would be impossible, with all we have. Books represent knowledge to us, good stories, good memories. They are a slice of who we are.

The best-selling book of all time, by far, is the Bible. It's all the above- knowledge, good stories, good memories. Yet it's so much more. The Bible is truth, God's Word, and a guide for life. I've only given away one Bible in my life, a study Bible that was so worn the cover was falling off. The man I gave it to understood its value, and bound up all its broken places, and really brought a smile to my face when he showed me the repairs.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105